- Last year, the Congress enacted “The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act” (the text of the
original bill is available here (Links to an external site.)), and President Donald J. Trump (pictured below) officially signed this bill into law on November 25, 2019. In summary, this law makes it a federal crime to commit animal cruelty; criminal penalties under this law include a fine, a prison term of up to seven years, or both. Which ofthe following is the strongest argument for challenging the constitutionality of this law in court?
(a) This is a trick, as President Trump unilaterally made animal cruelty a federal crime by executive order.
(b)Congress is supposed to have limited powers, and this particular law exceeds the enumerated powers
delegated to Congress in Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution.
(c)Although Congress has the power to regulate interstate commerce, this particular law has no rational
relation to commerce.
(d)This is a trick question, as this bill is still being debated in Congress and has little chance of being
approved
this year.
(e)Congress does not have the power to enact federal criminal laws.
Sample Solution
